What Is a Good Deadlift? Honest Numbers by Bodyweight

A good deadlift is about 1.5× your bodyweight after a few months of real training, and 2× bodyweight once you're genuinely intermediate. For a 180 lb man that's roughly 270 lb to start being respectable and ~350 lb to be better than half of everyone tracking their lifts. For a 150 lb woman, ~145 lb and ~205 lb. Those are the numbers. The rest of this is why they don't mean what you think.

How much should I deadlift for my bodyweight?

The multiplier version, which is the fastest sanity check:

Independent check: Barbell Medicine puts a recreational lifter after one year of consistent barbell training at 1.25–1.75× bodyweight — and notes that range sits around the 10th percentile of competitive powerlifters. Both things are true: you're doing fine, and you're nowhere near the ceiling.

What's a good deadlift by bodyweight? (men)

Pounds, 1-rep max. Source: StrengthLevel, from roughly 23 million logged deadlifts.

What's a good deadlift by bodyweight? (women)

Note: ExRx publishes a competing set of standards that runs more conservative, especially at the beginner end. Nobody has census data on recreational lifters — every one of these charts is an estimate, not a ranking.

Is a 315 deadlift good?

At 180 lb bodyweight, 315 is 1.75× — comfortably past novice, closing on intermediate. It's a genuinely respectable pull that most people who lift never reach. At 240 lb bodyweight, the same 315 is 1.3× and sits just past beginner. Same bar, different answer. That's the entire problem with the question.

Quick reference: 225 is a novice-to-intermediate pull for most men and advanced for most women. 405 is advanced for men under ~180 lb. 500+ is elite territory outside the heaviest weight classes.

How much should a beginner deadlift?

Whatever you can do with a flat back for 5 reps. That's it. The chart says roughly 1× bodyweight for men and 0.75× for women, but a true first-day number is lower and irrelevant. Load the bar light enough that your technique doesn't break, then add weight every session for as long as that keeps working.

Why the number lies

• The data is self-selected. These come from people who chose to install a lifting app and log a max. Everyone who's never touched a barbell isn't in the sample. The real average adult is well below "beginner."
• Limb length changes the math. Long arms relative to torso shorten the range of motion and cut the leverage penalty. Two people, same bodyweight, same training, different ceilings — for skeletal reasons neither of them chose.
• Genetics set the starting line. Twin studies put 50–60% of the variance in baseline strength down to heredity. Where you start isn't a character trait.
• The charts don't say belt, straps, or stance. Strapped sumo versus raw conventional is not the same lift. If you're comparing your number to a chart, you're comparing to an average of both.
• Full reps only. Knees, hips, and upper back lock out, or it doesn't count. A rack pull is not a deadlift.

The number that actually matters

Not where you sit on someone's chart. Whether the bar moved more this month than last.

The weight you warm up with today is the heaviest thing someone else will lift all year. And the weight you're grinding for right now is somebody's warm-up. Both are true, both are irrelevant, and neither one loads the bar for you.

Log it. Add slow. Show up again. That's the whole method.

Sharp, shooting, or nerve pain isn't toughness — stop and see a coach or physio. And if your setup is the thing holding you back, fix that first.

Pull heavy. Wear it: the Barbell heavyweight tee. Shop the drop.

FAQ

Is a 2x bodyweight deadlift good?

Yes. Two times bodyweight puts a man at intermediate — stronger than roughly half of people who track their lifts — and puts a woman into advanced territory. It's a legitimate benchmark and takes most people a couple of years of consistent training.

What is the average deadlift?

Across roughly 23 million logged lifts, the average tracked male deadlift is about 340 lb and the average female deadlift about 200 lb. Both count as intermediate. Remember these come from people who log lifts, not from the general population.

How long does it take to deadlift 2x bodyweight?

For most people training consistently, somewhere around two years. Barbell Medicine puts one year of steady barbell work at 1.25 to 1.75 times bodyweight, so double bodyweight usually sits a year or so past that.

More from Deadweight

• Strength News — the iron world, straight
• The Work — training tips & tricks
• The Pit — hardcore band write-ups
• Shop all — heavyweight tees, built to earn

Sources: StrengthLevel (23M logged lifts), ExRx.net, Barbell Medicine, and van den Hoek et al. 2024 (809,986 powerlifting competition entries). Recreational standards are estimates, not measured population data.